Revolution Oktoberfest Revolution

Brewed By: Revolution Brewing Company (Revolution Beer LLC) in Chicago, IL

Purchased: 12oz CAN from a 6-pack bought at Fischman Liquors and Tavern in Chicago, IL; 2013

Style/ABV: Oktoberfest/Märzen, 5.7%

Reported IBUs: 25

What, it's not pumpkin season, brodette. It's Oktoberfest/Märzen season. Which is perfect, because football just started, and nothing says football like a nice, malty-sweet Lager. About Revolution:

Revolution Brewing is a brewery and brewpub based in Chicago. Revolution's roots are tied to founder Josh Deth, a homebrewer who began working at Golden Prairie Brewing. A few years later, while working at Goose Island, Josh dreamt up the idea for Revolution Brewing. In 2003, Josh and his wife opened Handlebar, while Josh worked as an Executive Director of Logan Square Chamber of Commerce. While working for the Chamber of Commerce, Josh found an old building on Milwaukee Avenue, and the wheels began to spin to open up a brewery. After three years of raising funds, Revolution Brewing opened its doors on February 2010. In July of 2011, Revolution added a 2nd floor Brewers' Lounge. And in 2012, the company opened a new production brewery and tap room. The brewpub is located in Logan Squre on 2323 N. Milwaukee Ave; the brewery is located on Kedzie Avenue at 3340 N. Kedzie Ave. For more information on Revolution, check out their history page here! 

The Revolution Oktoberfest is an American-style German Oktoberfest. Brewed with Hallertauer Hersbrucker hops, this beer is crisp, with balanced bitterness, spicy/earthy aromas, and some toasty malt sweetness. Punching in at a 5.7% ABV and 25 IBUs...this beer happily comes in 6-pack cans for maximum awesomeness.

Revolution Oktoberfest Revolution

As you'd expect, the beer pours a clear, clean, transparent, copper/amber color, and kicks up three to four fingers of soapy, off-white head. In bright light, the head picks up some light tan/copper, and the boddy is a nice copper/brown/gold color. There's some carbonation in the mix, and some lacing.

The aroma on this beer is very nice, with some malty sweetness, a bit of toasted malt, toast/bread, that classic clean Lager finish, and some yeasty/hop spice with hints of cinnamon, allspice, and floral/earthy bitterness.

You get a nice follow through of the aroma in the taste, with tons of malty sweetness veering in the direction of sweet raisins and apples. There's some nice toast in the taste, and some floral bitterness and earthy hops. The beer is clean and refreshing, and pretty easy-going.

There's really not much to see here...this is a good, if not above-average Oktoberfest. The biggest consideration for me is the fact that this is locally brewed, and locally available. If you live in or around Chicago, this beer should be pretty easy to find. The mouthfeel is clean, crispy, carbonated, and light-bodied to medium-light-bodied. Palate depth is good for the style, and complexity is okay. It's a lot of malt sweetness up front, with some toasty malts in the middle, and a toasty, floral, lightly hoppy finish. Very Autumn, very drinkable, great football beer.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. There's not much else to say. It's an Oktoberfest...it's a great style of beer, and one of my favorites come September and October, but it's pretty straightforward. I love to pair these beers with pretzels, football, and burgers, but this is also an awesome beer to rock out on your deck or porch all through September. This beer also goes great with the those late Summer/early Autumn baseball games. 

Random Thought: Oktoberfest is all about the party anyway, right?